VLC Media Player Lands on the IPhone and iPod Touch

Applidium, the company that brought VLC to the iPad, has released a new version of VLC for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well, assuming you're running iOS 3.2 or later.

If you're looking for a media player that can handle just about anything you throw at it, VLC Media Player has long been the app to turn to. When it landed on the iPad about a month ago, iPhone and iPod Touch owners eagerly anticipated a release would come their way soon after, and today's the day.

Applidium, the company that brought VLC to the iPad, has released a new version of VLC for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well, assuming you're running iOS 3.2 or later. VLC for the iPhone isn't quite as powerful as its desktop counterpart, but it does boast support for a wide variety of media files and file types that the default media player in iOS doesn't support.

A number of reviewers in the iTunes App Store have noted that the app only supports the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and newer iPod Touch models - the original iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G, and iPhone 3G or older, even if they run iOS 3.2, aren't supported.

The new VLC is essentially a smaller port of the iPad version, so the same warnings apply. The app doesn't have access to the iPhone's hardware, so no hardware-accelerated video, and the app won't play FLV files as long as Apple refuses to support Flash in iOS.

Another notable update to the new version of VLC is that you can manage your files directly through the app without having to sync with iTunes to delete a file, for example. The interface allows you to delete audio or video to save storage space on your mobile device with a few taps. You still have to use iTunes to load media to your iPhone, but once you have your media copied to your phone, VLC will recognize and play it normally.

This app isn't quite the Swiss army knife that the desktop version of VLC is, and you'll still find yourself running into audio and video that simply won't play until you transcode it on your desktop. However, VLC is still a strong media player that integrates well with the look and feel of iOS and can handle AVIs, MPGs, MKVs, and DivX-encoded video. Even with its drawbacks, VLC is still the best media player available for iOS and handles the most file types and formats. Best of all, it's completely free and available now in the iTunes App store.Back to top